


Path of Storm

by Yashou



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Magic Theory, Season 3, Speculation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2020-01-11 17:37:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 20,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18428873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yashou/pseuds/Yashou
Summary: A speculative fanfic about Season 3 of The Dragon Prince. Is Callum the first human to have ever mastered one of the Primal Sources? What does this mean for the delicate relationship between humans, and the elves and dragons? Will they welcome a mage who has rejected dark magic or will they fear him because his existence might mean a new weapon for their enemies? How does a human born without an Archanum actually do magic? How will Ezran deal with Viren, a borderline sociopathic dark mage, after he ascends to the throne?





	1. Sol Regem

As they spotted the dragon, the dragon spotted them. It growled softly and flew over to them before they could even react. Callum was about to run for it, but Rayla held his arm and the look on her face told him that was a bad idea. Zym was sitting on Rayla's shoulder and looked to the approaching dragon inquisitively.

The dragon landed gently despite its enormous size. Its massive body cast an enormous shadow over them. Callum felt like it had been too late ever since it had first seen them. It held a certain beauty. Maybe it was because Callum loved to draw, he was captivated for a moment with the symmetry of the dragon's horns. The dragon studied them for a moment before its eyes widened as they rested on Zym. It lowered its head and looked closely at the little dragon. A gasp of fire flecked with red and yellow exited its nostrils.

"Yes, he is the Dragon Prince" Rayla replied.

The dragon spouted fire, which rushed towards them. Surprisingly the fire wasn't burning hot, but warm like a summer breeze. Rayla closed her eyes, using her body to listen to the fire.

After the fire disappeared she said, "The humans didn't destroy the egg, they stole it and hid it. Their princes found the egg and wanted to right that wrong by returning it to its mother. On the way the egg hatched. We named him Azymandias".

A short fire shot out of the dragon's snout. He looked at Callum closely. Another burst of fire erupted, this time only towards Rayla.

"This is prince Callum. He and his brother were helping me bring the egg back. Prince... I mean King Ezran had to return to his kingdom, because his father..." she couldn't say anymore.

The dragon gave them both a look of understanding. A burst of white flame rushed through Callum. It felt like sadness and remorse. They spent a moment in silence. The dragon then looked to Zym and short bursts of fire enveloped the baby dragon. The fire tickled Zym, and he started laughing so hard that he fell off. They all chuckled at the sight of the baby dragon. The old dragon's eyes had a brightness to them Callum had never thought a dragon would be able to express.

Sol Regem's neck shot up into the air and a great roar echoed across the valley. Even Callum could hear the great joy the old dragon was feeling. It lowered its neck in front of them and gestured to get on.

While Callum was less afraid than before, he was still quite apprehensive. Rayla got on the dragon's neck and reached out to him. A playful smile was on her face. Callum took her hand and climbed aboard the dragon.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWOOOOOOHOOOO" Callum's fright quickly turned to exhilaration as the dragon soared through the skies.

"This is amazing" he screamed as the winds roared past his ear. He couldn't believe how fast the dragon could fly. Rayla laughed seeing him have so much fun.

Zym tried to fly on his own, but Rayla caught him "Oh no, little one. You wouldn't be able to keep up with Sol Regem, not yet anyway". Rayla smiled at the baby dragon.

The dragon shot out a belly full of fire, which the wind pushed back towards them. Callum seemed to feel he could slightly understand what the dragon was saying. Sol Regem might have been talking about Zym's father.

"Storm Dragon's aren't the fastest, but they have stamina very few could challenge" She said. "The Dragon King, your father, in particular could fly for days". Zym, being a baby, didn't seem too interested in the conversation and was looking, wide eyed, at the sky around him.

"So Zym doesn't understand Sol Regem?" asked Callum.

"It won't take him long, he's a baby, and babies learn really fast" Rayla said, playing with Zym's face.

"Since learning magic, I expected dragons to speak in Draconic, not... well with fire" Callum said.

"Draconic is a magical language, it's not meant for conversing. Its rare for dragons to use Draconic, as it tolls a heavy price on them." Rayla explained. "Most of the time, dragons use their own magic to talk. Storm Dragons use their lightning to speak. It takes a while to get used to, for elves anyway. I haven't heard of a human speaking with dragons but as you're a mage, it should be possible."

A questioning flame erupted from Sol Regem's mouth. It was mostly yellow with flecks of red.

"Oh, you are in for a surprise, Sol Regem. Callum here is the first human to ever master one of the elements" Rayla said proudly.

The dragon snorted an unimpressed flame. It was dull green in colour.

"No no no, he doesn't have a primal stone. Well he did have a primal stone, but he destroyed it to help Zym hatch" Rayla explained. "No, he can connect to the Sky all on his own"

The dragon bent his neck around to look at them. He didn't seem to believe her.

Rayla had a smirk on her face. She looked to Callum and gave him a nod.

Callum sighed inside. He closed his eyes and took a moment. He could feel the power of the sky all around him. It was even stronger than when he had been on the ground. He could not only feel the winds, but could tell where they were going, and where they'd been. It seemed like the winds wanted to tell him about the things they'd seen, but it was faint he couldn't make out what they were saying. He decided to focus. He raised his finger in front of him and started drawing. After drawing Aspiro so often it came easily. When he breathed out, a great gale erupted from his mouth. It surprised him, but then he realised that up above in the air the power of the Sky was stronger, he should have adjusted for that. Rayla was initially surprised but her face quickly returned to the smirk she had been sporting for a while now. She looked to the dragon to see Sol Regem was absolutely shocked. Her smirk turned smug.

Sol Regem was having a hard time understanding what was going on. Being in the sky a lot he had some understanding of the Sky. He couldn't connect to it as he didn't have the Sky Arcanum, but he could still feel the Sky around him. And at this moment he could feel the Sky rushing towards this young human. He could tell there was no primal stone at work. The old dragon turned around and started to descend. When they were on the ground, Callum, Rayla and Zym got off the dragon.

A flame rushed through them and Callum thought he heard the question, "What is he?".

"I am a human" he replied, trying to stay humble "Just an ordinary, garden variety, human".

Rayla gasped, "You understood him".

Sol Regem's mind blanked for a moment. This human was challenging every notion he held. He had been alive for thousands of years and never in all his life was he so shocked. His mind raced as he contemplated on all the possibilities. This human was redefining the rules of magic. When he thought further, his shock turned to fear. He considered the generations of grudges and war and what this human learning magic could mean. Scarlet flames started erupting from his eyes and horns. The previously gentle dragon suddenly looked like a creature of destruction.

Rayla quickly stood in front of Callum. She shouted, "Sol Regem".

The dragon didn't attack Callum, but they could see he was hesitating. If he chose to attack, they wouldn't stand much of a chance. The dragon looked to Zym and seeing the fear in the little dragon's eyes felt ashamed. All the flames receeded back into its body.

"I will not hurt an innocent. You pose a danger to us all, but you haven't done anything wrong. You also helped return the Dragon Prince. We are indebted to you. I apologise for my behaviour", the dragon bowed.

"What did he say?" Callum asked Rayla.

Rayla looked at Callum for a second and told him. Callum nodded at the dragon, but didn't really understand what was going on. The only thing he figured out later was, he had understood the dragon's question earlier because the thought was really simple. When it got long and complicated he just couldn't hold it in his head.

The dragon walked a certain distance away from them, sat down and closed his eyes.

Rayla looked at the dragon for a long time, contemplating on her own.


	2. Meeting

Corvus was leading the young king through the forest. The young king seemed perfectly at home here. He had initially thought of princes as pampered brats, but after having tracked them for so long, he could see that the pair were anything but. He felt a certain amount of satisfaction with the young king and his step-brother. He was impressed with King Ezran's sense of duty to his kingdom, particularly at his age. People thought of King Harrow as an exemplary king, but King Ezran may outdo him, he thought. Prince Callum was doing a great thing returning the Dragon Prince. He did not wish for a war with the elves and dragons, there was nothing better than peace in his opinion. He hoped the return of the Dragon Prince would appease Xadia enough to stop any war. Surely Xadia did not want war just as badly as humans?

Ezran was walking with a bird perched on his shoulder, who he was talking to. Bait didn't look too happy about the situation, but it was rare for Bait to look happy anyway. After the bird left, Ezran seemed to be lost in thought.

Corvus imagined the duties of a king weighed heavy on the boy's mind. There wasn't really much he could do about it. He tried talking to the young king, but nothing really got solved. The king had so many questions, and he could only answer a few of them. Most of the questions didn't really have a correct answer, Corvus felt, and the king agreed, there were many possible answers for each of those questions, but none were truly correct. And the answers he could think of for some of those questions seemed ignorant to him, so he said nothing. Yet other questions were in topics he felt he didn't have the right to advise any king. This left the young king searching for answers on his own, which didn't bear much fruit. Corvus suddenly realised being king was a lonely business.

The boy was definitely not ready to be king, but Corvus couldn't think of anyone more suited for the role. A wise king, in his mind, was a king who knew his own limitations, and the boy seemed to be acutely aware of his own inexperience.

Ezran found going back much easier than going towards Xadia. Xadia was an unknown, exotic land, and while there was a certain excitement in venturing into the unknown, there was a comfort of going back somewhere familiar. He had missed home he realised. A part of him didn't want to go back, though. Going back meant facing reality. His father's death, while painful, didn't quite feel real yet, it didn't yet hurt as much as it should. He felt he was in a dream, someone else's dream, and he was watching that dream as a spectator. When he returned home, the dream would shatter and he would awake to find it had been his dream all along.

He could feel Zym. It was odd. No other animal had ever created this kind of lasting connection. He supposed it must have something to do with magic and dragons. The connection grew more dim the further they got from each other, but it felt permanent.

Before they realised, they were back at the harbour he had landed in aboard the Ruthless. The harbour town was bustling as before. Corvus got them a room, and went looking for a ship to cross the sea. Ezran spent time talking to the birds and the rats that he could find. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the town, at least from the furry and feathered denizens' perspective.

Animals don't really notice much about humans. Most likely because most humans ignore or pester animals on sight. Animals only notice the humans who treat them well, those who feed them or allow them to live peacefully and respect their space.

Corvus returned with news that a ship was heading out in the afternoon. Ezran was a little dissappointed that the ship wasn't The Ruthless, but he'd have been very surprised if the tracker had chosen a blind sea captain to cross the sea.

As they climbed aboard, Ezran saw Claudia and Soren already aboard the ship. They were looking out into the distant horizon, most likely lost in their thoughts. Corvus immediately grabbed Ezran and tried to carefully step back off the ship.

"Corvus, its okay" Ezran said.

The sibling pair turned to see them. Corvus was immediately ready for a battle, and stepped in front of his king to protect him.

Soren's eyes widened. He walked over to them. Claudia wasn't sure what he was going to do, but she'd back him up however she could. She wasn't capable of much at the moment, not to mention her ingredients had dwindled to near nothing, she herself hadn't recovered from performing that spell to fix Soren's paralysis.

"Corvus, its so good to see you my friend" Soren hugged a very confused Corvus, "Hey, Ezran's here too, where's the rest of the gang? Where's Callum and the grumpy elf?"

"They went on to Xadia to return Zym to his mother. I had to come back, because, well... I had to" Ezran had enough sense not to mention certain matters in public.

The nuance surprisingly was not lost on Soren, Cladia assumed it was because she had had to drill it into his head so often when they were tracking the princes. Or maybe he just didn't notice and was none the wiser.

"Where are you going?" Ezren asked.

"Well, we failed to bring you back, so we were going to return to the castle to report our failure. You can come along if you like." Claudia joked.

"Sure, I'd like that." Ezran said with a smile.

Soren and Corvus spent some time talking with each other. Claudia and Ezran gave them their space and decided to talk somewhere else.

"I see you managed to heal Soren" Soren didn't look uninjured to Ezren, but he was at least able to walk around.

"Ah... yes. Those milk-fruit were really effective. Thank you for your help" Claudia said.

"It was my pleasure" Something about her seemed off for a moment, but Ezren didn't pay it much mind.

"So Callum decided to head to Xadia. With that pretty elf for company." Claudia didn't seem to approve much.

"Guess what Claudia? Callum can do magic now." Ezran looked very excited.

"What? He's been dabbling in dark magic? That's very dangerous. You need to be taught by a good teacher or there are terrible consequences" Claudia grabbed Ezren in her concern.

"No, not dark magic. Callum wouldn't do that. Well he wouldn't do that again. I don't think. It was wind magic" Ezren tried to appease Claudia's concern.

"Oh. You must mean Sky magic. That's good. I suppose. Yes." Claudia paused, "Wait didn't he break the Sky Primal Stone? Did he find another one?".

"Yes, he did break it to help Zym hatch. No, he can do magic without primal stones" Ezren explained.

Claudia was sure she didn't hear right.

"I think you must be mistaken Ezran, it's not possible for humans to do magic without primal stones" Claudia sounded just like a teacher lecturing a student.

Ezran felt slightly annoyed at being talked down to. It was just like when Callum wouldn't believe he could talk to animals.

"Well, Callum figured out a way" he replied.

"If you say so" was all Claudia said, shrugging. She clearly didn't think it was possible, but didn't want to hurt Ezran's feelings.

They spent a moment in silence. Claudia tried to change the subject.

"What was the name of that baby dragon again?" she asked.

"Zym, short for Azymandias" Ezran seemed happy to talk about the dragon.

"Zym, its a good name. It was a very adorable dragon. I felt sad not being able to spend more time with it" She said.

"Zym was great" Ezran agreed. He didn't mention his connection to the baby dragon.

Claudia smiled back in response. The sailors around them had gotten the ship ready to sail. The walkway had been pulled and the ship was setting off. Soon they had left that humble harbour behind. A chill breeze was blowing through the ship and prompted all the passengers on deck to find their cabins.

Claudia looked to Ezran and smiled a short goodbye. She went to find Soren who was standing with Corvus, their conversation now over. The siblings left to find their cabins. Corvus came to Ezran and found their cabins.

Once in their own cabin Claudia lied down on her bed and faced away from Soren. Soren didn't notice and stared out the window before falling asleep. Claudia couldn't sleep. The bite back this time was particularly aggressive. Her whole body was screaming in pain. She was able to control herself and not show it when she was around people, but she felt her mental strength slowly depleting. She needed to recover, but she had run out of magical ingredients. She had stolen the life of the baby deer and given it all to Soren, keeping none for herself. All black magic dealt with life, use your own life to take and transform the life of another. Normally, black magic users stole a little bit of the life of their target to replenish themselves. It worked well most of the time, but this was one of those rare exceptions. She just had to bear with it. Once the ship landed, she could find some creatures to recover her strength from.

* * *


	3. Pledge

They didn't try to escape. While the dragon seemed to be sleeping, Rayla was certain Sol Regem was doing anything but. She didn't want to do anything to upset this delicate equillibrium. Callum was more than happy not to disturb a 'sleeping' dragon. Zym seemed to want to copy the older dragon and nodded off.

Sol Regem eventually got up and approached the trio.

Callum had been spending his time drawing the 'sleeping' dragon. As concerned as he was regarding the dragon's earlier behaviour, he couldn't waste this opportunity to draw a dragon.

Rayla was still lost in thought with Zym napping on her lap. She had heard many things about Sol Regem. He was the strictest of dragons, described by those who knew him to be the most rational of beings. He didn't lose his composure unless the situation was dire. She couldn't be certain exactly what had bothered the old dragon, the clues were still gathering in her mind, she was certain it was quite serious. She was really concerned for Callum and felt she was to blame. She shouldn't have blabbed about Callum's secrets. She realised now they should have kept his magic secret, but couldn't figure out why.

"Come", the dragon breathed a pale fire as it extended its neck to allow them to climb aboard.

None of them moved. They wanted an explanation.

The dragon studied them and nodded.

"Your name is Callum?" the dragon enquired, to which Callum nodded.

"You represent many things, Callum. You have much potential for greatness. Not just personal greatness perhaps even the greatness of your entire race. Humans aren't born with Arcanum (Author's note: maybe Arcani?) and have always been disconnected from the primal sources. You have found a way to create a bridge, I don't understand how and perhaps even after proper examination, I might still not be able to explain your ability. I am not connected to the Sky, perhaps the Dragon Queen has some hope of understanding your bridge." The dragon paused, allowing Rayla to translate his words to Callum.

"Moreover, if you as a human can connect to the primal sources, perhaps others of your kind can too, which represents the greatest danger to have ever faced us. In the worst case perhaps all humans have the potential to become Mages. And if you can connect to one source, what's to stop you connecting to others. Humans and Xadia have a long history of hatred. There are grudges and wrongs on both sides. Human dark mages hunted magical creatures for their foul magic. We banished all humans for the crimes of a few. Humans rising up, seeking to return to their homeland would be completely justified. But with this new power, in their justified war they could seek to destroy us completely and they most likely would succeed. Being able to use primal magic and dark magic together could bring about the destruction of Xadia. If you hadn't brought the Dragon Prince, I'd have killed you without taking the time to consider the consequences. I have always sought to rationally think things through, and not let my emotions cloud my judgement. My fear overrode my rationality, and I am greatly ashamed to have succumbed so easily. I suppose no matter how old or powerful you become, you can never truly conquer fear." The dragon paused again.

Rayla's mind was feeling the shock the dragon likely had experienced previously. She explained his words to Callum as well as she could. She realised she had thought Callum to be special in some way. She had seen the struggles he had had to go through to learn Sky magic. But did that mean that everyone would find it that hard? What if others too learned magic in some way and paved the way for others by teaching? Could Callum teach other humans Sky magic?

Callum too was reeling at the possibilities suggested by the dragon. He didn't consider himself special and thinking about it, if he could do it so could others. But if that's the case, why hadn't humans learned to connect to magic all this time?

The dragon didn't continue speaking right away. He seemed to be considering its next words carefully.

"I have had some time to reflect, and have come to realise killing you would have been a grave mistake. It would have been unjust, and I would have repayed your kindness with malice. I would have also destroyed Xadia's best hope for peace in these changing times. You, may be the best hope for everlasting peace between Xadia and humans." The dragon paused.

"Not everyone will see things my way. There will be many who seek to harm you. It is in your best interest to leave Xadia as soon as possible. However, I hope you will complete the quest you set out on and deliver the Dragon Prince to his mother."

"I may not know how the days from now will go, but one thing I can promise you is your safety. From the time you get on my back, to the time you leave Xadia, I promise on my fire, I will use all of my ability to keep you safe. If you can accept that pledge, please come with me to see the Dragon Queen" Sol Regem bowed once again. A flame rune appeared over his horns and started coursing its way around its body like fiery snakes.

Rayla couldn't believe the pledge Sol Regis made. "Why would you go so far Sol Regem?", she asked.

"Because it might be the only way", he replied.

"Callum, when a dragon pledges its magic, it is serious. There is no way to unbind the seal, it is self imposed, impervious to outside interference and impossible for the dragon to remove. It's like locking yourself in a cage and throwing away the key", Rayla explained, "If you accept the pledge the binding will be enforced and until you leave Xadia, the binding cannot be removed. If he fails to fulfill his pledge... he will perish".

Callum could see how sincere the Sol Regem was being, "Why?" he couldn't help asking.

Sol Regem sighed and shook his head. "It is difficult to explain. I can only tell you if you accept my pledge and go to see the Dragon Queen."

"I need to think about this", Callum said. The dragon nodded.

* * *


	4. Return

Soren spent most of his time in silence. Something about him had changed. At least Ezran thought so. Ezran couldn't figure out exactly what was different. He seemed just like the Soren he had always known yet at the same time was a complete stranger.

Claudia too was surprisingly quiet throughout the voyage. Something was on their minds, he thought.

Claudia had been thinking about Soren's secret mission given to him by their father. She started reflecting on the kind of man her father was. Their father had always been single minded in his goal and held everything else secondary, even his children, even himself. It wasn't to become king of Katolis or rule over others. It was his fear of Elves and Dragons that drove him and his most ardent desire was to protect humans. She knew he didn't always make the best decisions. She certainly did not agree to killing the princes. But she believed her father made his decisions with the goal of preserving humans, no matter the cost. Somehow her father believed the princes would be better off dead for the good of humanity. She couldn't make sense of it.

Soren had never been a deep thinker. He had always focused on fighting. He was good at it. Really good. Even when the Moonshadow elves had come, he had made it out alive. He had been wounded sure, but nothing that wouldn't heal with time. He had always thought that's all he needed. He had never felt the need to think things through. He had Dad for that and Claudia too, though he'd never admit it to her face. He wanted to be the sword that protected them. But since the dragon incident, he found a huge weakness in himself he'd never realised. He had acted stupidly and it had not only cost him dearly, but also his sister. She tried to hide it, and she probably succeeded when it came to other people. But he was her brother, they'd known each other too long. He could tell that she was suffering from some kind of backlash from that spell she used to heal his paralysis. He could tell from the way she moved and the way she talked. He could sense the firm hold she was keeping on herself the whole time she interacted with anyone. Part of her hair had turned white as if she'd suddenly aged. He couldn't bring himself to talk to her about it. He felt ashamed. It was all his fault.

The ship made its way through the ocean relatively calmly. Ezran was thankful there was no storm this time. Eventually it made its way to the port where they'd first met Captain Villads with the silent 'd'. Thinking about 'human' Rayla made him realise how much he missed her. And Callum. And Zym. He hoped they made it to Xadia safely. He wondered what wonderous sights Callum might be seeing on his travels. He couldn't wait to see the drawings.

They disembarked from the ship and proceeded to find a carriage. It wouldn't be long before they made it to the royal castle. The carriage stopped a few times, because Claudia was getting sore from sitting on the bumpy carriage for too long. She'd take walks and always came back looking more energetic and lively. Soren seemed to brighten up slightly seeing Claudia return but always returned to his somber mood.

Eventually they arrived at the castle. When Ezran stepped into the castle, the guards stared in shock. One of the guards punched the other and told him to let everyone know. In his hurry, the guard ran into a patrol and they all fell to the ground. The guard quickly got up and didn't even apologise and ran off. The victims wanted to shout at the clumsy guard but quickly realised Ezran's presence. After their shock wore off, they immediately kneeled, catching the attention of everyone in the plaza. Gasps could be heard and more people kneeled.

Ezran was overwhelmed with the situation. Corvus wanted to step forward and place his hand on the young king's shoulder to assure him but knew it wasn't his place. Ezran thought back to how people would always kneel in front of his father, and only now could he see it from his father's perspective. He realised all these people were depending on him. He felt like running away, but forced himself on the spot. Opeli soon came rushing and kneeled in front of Ezran, she shouted "All hail, King Ezran".

"All hail, King Ezran", shouted everyone present. Those who heard the cry, stopped what they were doing, kneeled and repeated that shout. As the message was repeated, soon the whole city knew that their king had returned. Wave after wave of cries echoed throughout the city and later the entire kingdom.

* * *


	5. Truth

Callum looked down below the dragon's back. They were high in the sky, the lands below looked small and insignificant. Vast forests and tall mountains looked like patches of grass and ant hills. He was mesmerised by how lush and green Xadia was. He had never seen the human lands from high above but knew it was a mostly desolate place. Before humans were banished there, very few chose to live there. Those who did were hardened and lived a modest life without comfort. Xadia wasn't like that, at least that's how it appeared to Callum from high above, everything seemed plentiful.

Callum realised they had been hopelessly naive. Bringing Zym back might stop the imminent war, but it wouldn't change much in the long run. Humans and magical beings would still hate each other. Eventually, another incident would set off another war that would destroy both sides.

He had hoped his learning to connect to magic would in some way foster greater understanding between the elves and dragons and the humans. He had underestimated just how deep the hatred and fear went. He knew the human side already, Viren, his step-father Harrow, his aunt Amaya all feared and loathed the power of the elves and dragons. Humans had been banished for crimes their distant ancestors had committed. Humans lived their lives realising justice was dictated by those with power. Their fear and hatred made them unable to consider peace as an option, the very idea seemed ludicrous to them. Elves and dragons considered humans to be cold and heartless beings who had hunted their kind for power and had struck down the dragon king and his only egg, unprovoked. Humans were so corrupt and vicious the elves and dragons feared what humans might be capable of. They didn't see humans as beings but rather as monsters and had cast them away.

A small gesture such as returning the dragon prince wouldn't do much to change either side's beliefs.

Peace seemed to be an impossible prospect.

This made him wonder exactly what Sol Regem was upto.

A small fire burned at the center of his forehead. He didn't feel any heat from it or any connection to it. Unless he looked at it by squinting his eyes up, he wouldn't even know it was there. The moment he accepted the dragon's pledge, it had appeared. Sol Regem said it was a mark of his pledge and would disappear when the promise had been fulfilled.

Rayla had been quiet the entire time.

"It wasn't your fault" Callum tried to console her.

"I shouldn't have revealed your secrets" she said apologetically.

"I'm still alive thanks to you. If I had done it my way I'd probably be dead" Callum said.

"What do you mean?" Rayla asked.

"I was going to ask the Dragon Queen to teach me" Callum said, "Now I know that might have got me killed."

"You were expecting the Dragon Queen to teach you personally?" Rayla asked, incredulous.

"Well, a few tips maybe. And maybe point me towards some books I could devour. Answer a few questions here and there" he suddenly realised maybe it was unlikely, "Its not too much is it?" Callum asked.

"She's the queen, Callum. She will barely have time to talk to Zym, much less you. I mean, I'm sure she'd be grateful to you for returning her son to her, but she does have royal duties, She'd have a war to stop, I hope" Rayla said.

"Oh" Callum said despondently.

"I'm sure there would have been other people who could teach you more about Sky magic. I mean once they got past the whole "He's the first human to ever learn magic, kill him" bit" Rayla smiled. Sol Regem looked back at them for a moment but said nothing.

Callum was happy to see her in a slightly better mood.

Sol Regem descended for a break. The dragon stopped near an elven village. He tasked them with gathering supplies. They would arrive at the Dragon Queen's palace tomorrow and they'd need enough supplies to last them until then. He also reminded Callum not to do any magic under any circumstances, even if no one realised he was human, even if his life was in danger. Callum thought this was too cautious but didn't see any strong reason to object and agreed. Sol Regem took Zym on some flying lessons far from the village.

When the dragons were gone, Rayla set about preparing a disguise for Callum. His ears were easily covered with a scarf but his extra fingers were a problem. They decided that Callum was an elf who had lost his arms. He tucked his arms into his shirt and let the empty sleeves flow freely. She found some Morok leaves to fill his shirt, so he appeared fatter and made his arms indistinguishable under his shirt. Morok leaves were thick and had a flesh-like feeling. Rayla circled around him a few times to look at him from all sides.

"Aren't elves supposed to be slim?" said Callum as he looked down at his poofy disguise.

"True. You'd be a much more believable dwarf than an elf" agreed Rayla.

"Wait, dwarfs are real?" Callum asked.

"Hmm, they hardly ever show themselves, a reclusive bunch. They prefer to live underground, but they are expert crafters." Rayla replied, "but a dwarf would draw too much attention, and would be hard for you to pull off convincingly anyway. Fat elf is acceptable, we'll say you have a condition." Rayla decided.

"What kind of condition?" Callum asked.

"You can't stop eating" Rayla laughed.

Callum wasn't amused.

"Ok, seriously. There is a condition where elves can enlarge because their magic backfired. You were doing a replication spell and someone bumped into you, distracting you, you lost control of the spell and became... poofy" she smiled in such a way Callum couldn't be sure whether she was making it up or not.

"Its a real thing, trust me" she winked. Callum didn't believe a word of it, but he at least believed he would be able to enter the village without raising suspicion. They started walking towards the village.

"I'm surprised humans invaded that far into Xadia and then made it back out" he was talking about the attack that killed the Dragon King.

"The Dragon King lived permanently at the border and so did the queen and their egg" Rayla said, "After that attack the queen moved far from the humans. I'm not sure of her reasons. Perhaps she feared another attack, perhaps it was too painful to stay where she lost everything or perhaps she feared she would, in her grief and anger, devastate the human race."

"Why hasn't she, you know, attacked humans?" Callum asked.

"It goes against our beliefs. We don't take lives needlessly. We treat each life as precious and unique, irreplacable. That's why we consider what the human dark mages did long ago so abhorrent. That's also why humans were banished and not killed" she said, "Of course we're not above our emotions. The Queen could have lost it on that day and declared war on all humans. It would have been against our beliefs, but she is the queen and we would have followed her decree. Her power as queen is why she has to bind her own feelings and always consider the greater good. It is her burden."

Callum didn't say anything. He felt he was understanding the elves and dragons a little bit better.

"What's it like being an assassin when you believe life to be precious?" he asked.

"I can't really call myself an assassin anymore as I've never killed anyone and don't plan to" Callum was surprised to hear her admission, "I trained as a warrior from a young age, and volunteered for the mission and was accepted because of my aptitude. I hesitated to kill the soldier who found us and let him go, which put us all in danger. If I could go back and do it again, I still wouldn't be able to kill him."

"You could have tied him up" Callum offered.

"Yes, that hadn't occured to me at the time. I was so focused on being an assassin I thought my only option to kill, which blinded me to the other possibilites," she said.

"So what are you going to do now?" Callum asked.

"Well I'll stick with you for now. You'll need a guide in Xadia. Then who knows, I'll let the river take me where it will" Rayla said. (Edit: this is a reference to the conversation between Rayla and Villads, the blind sea captain, I should have mentioned that, it perhaps wasn't clear)

"I'm glad you're here with me Rayla" Callum said with a smile.

Rayla smiled back.

The were now at the entrance of the village. The village was mostly houses, but there weren't many roads. There were many trees though. The village seemed to be perpetually living in shade.

The houses were made of wood like human houses, but the shapes were different. There weren't any joints anywhere, there seemed to be long pieces of wood coiling around. Rayla explained that the tree branches grew to create the houses at the elves' request. As they walked through the village, people seemed to be giving Callum looks of sympathy. He was absolutely certain it had nothing to do with his missing arm. Rayla turned her face away everytime he looked at her, but he was sure she was stiffling a laugh. He couldn't ask anyone because he didn't want them to suspect him. He just had to dejectedly forget about it and try to enjoy his time in the village as much as he could. They soon came to a market and Rayla bought some supplies. The food seemed similar to the food at home but there wasn't any meat or fish anywhere.

"Do elves abstain from meat because you don't like killing?" he asked.

"We do eat meat, but only from animals who have met a natural end" she explained "We rear animals and wait for them to die, rather than kill them. In the forests we take care of we have an understanding with the animal inhabitants. They will often offer their bodies to us before they die. We watch over them as they pass on. Its symbiosis. Their bodies help us to live and we help their children survive."

"That's amazing" Callum marvelled.

When they returned they found the two dragons had returned before them. Zym had fallen asleep and Sol Regem was looking off into the distance. They cooked the food they had gotten and for the first time in a long while had a hearty meal. When they'd finished, Sol Regem breathed a yellow fire. "You're not the first human to ever connect to magic."

Callum and Rayla stared at the dragon.

"Rayla could you translate that?" Callum asked, "I thought I heard him say I'm not the first human to have ever learned magic"

"No, that's what he said" Rayla said.

"It is said that magical creatures had always existed in Xadia. Humans arrived later, it is not known where they came from or how. Some say they came from another continent by their sea faring ships, others say that humans are the progeny of some foul creatures and sprang from the ground, dwarfs take offence to that, the ground is sacred to them after all. Humans did not have any connection to the land when they arrived, they were feeble and struggled to survive. The elves and the dwarves helped them by teaching them to grow and make tools. Humans had an insatiable apetite for learning. Humanity prospered and there was peace in Xadia." The dragon paused to allow Rayla to translate.

"Humans soon discovered magic and saught to learn it too. Perhaps because they were not from Xadia, they were not born with Aracani. The elves told them it wasn't possible to do magic without Arcani. Along with their insatiable apetite for knowledge, some of the humans were more stubborn than dwarfs. They lived among elves and dwarfs hoping to tap into magic. They eventually succeeded."

Callum was shocked to hear this forgotten history. Rayla too couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"They discovered two different paths to magic, both ended in tragedy. Humans learned by copying what they saw and in the first path they tried to learn magic by copying the elves, dwarfs and other magical creatures. They learned to sense the magic around them, but couldn't harness it. They concluded they couldn't directly manipulate magic, but had the idea to cooperate with magical creatures to manipulate magical sources. This form of magic was crude and very few could achieve the results an elf or a dwarf could. Many of them wanted more power and discovered that by sacrificing magical creatures they could attain great amounts of power. They weren't even bound by the rules that limited the magic of the elves and dwarves who could only perform their magic under certain conditions. This was the birth of dark magic." The dragon's red flames had started turning darker as he continued recounting history. The dark fires were sending chills through Callum's body and he felt as if he could feel the dragon's sorrow, contempt and rage. Rayla translated the dragon's words to him and then he had the context for those emotions.

"You know how they turned out. There was a second group of human would-be-mages who set out to find their own path. They came much later after dark magic had already become common practice among human mages. The elves had forbidden dark magic, but the dark mages continued their practice in secrecy. Perhaps because of the elves' decree or perhaps for their own reasons they sought a different path to magic and like you they found it. They somehow constructed bridges of their own, and could connect directly to the primal sources. But their success was short lived. They couldn't control the magic they tapped into. We were born with Archani, but it wasn't until these humans bridged themselves to the primal sources that we realised exactly what their purpose was. An Arcanum shields a mage from the magic in case there is a problem. Human mages who tapped into magic directly had no shield and were usually destroyed"

"So Callum's life is in danger?" Rayla asked with concern. Callum hadn't understood much of what had been said, so this unexpected question threw him.

"Not immediately, he will be safe so long as he doesn't do magic again" Sol Regem replied.

Rayla was relived. But she knew it would be heartbreaking for Callum.

Callum felt as if his world had been plunged into darkness.

* * *


	6. Judgement

Opeli hadn't felt this relaxed in ages. For what seemed like eternity, her days were filled with anxiety and uncertainty. Before Ezran's return, the nobles had been maneuvering for power, General Amaya needed support and Opeli had no authority to grant it, the council could not agree on anything and the people were on the verge of hysteria. Ezran didn't need to be competent like his father, but his presence would make life a lot easier. She just had to stop the nobles and the council from dominating and placing a regent to turn Ezran into a puppet king. With Viren's previous machinations, the idea of a regent was corrupted. Few were willing to come forward to nominate themselves as regent knowing their ambition would be exposed. She despised the man, but his schemes had turned out well for her.

They had a very quick coronation and Ezran was deemed king. The crown didn't fit his head unfortunately and as she tried to place the crown it fell thorugh his head and became a necklace. The boy laughed which eased some of the tension. They all kneeled before the new king. She made arrangements for a new crown to be fashioned. The king thought for a moment and decided to speak to the gathered crowd.

"I know its scary right now. If my father was here he would have given you hope. I'm not as capable as my father. I'm young, inexperienced. War seems to be coming. We angered the elves and the dwarfs by killing the Dragon King and destroying his egg. But there is hope. We weren't cruel enough to destroy an unborn egg. We took it."

The crowd gasped at the revelation. Opeli, the council and the nobles were shocked. Some of them suspected he was lying. Ezran didn't mention that the egg had hatched and the dragon prince was born. He didn't want to complicate matters. It was hard enough speaking to so many people.

"My brother is on a journey right now to return that egg to the Dragon Queen. They have taken my father's life because we took the Dragon King's life. When my brother returns the egg, Xadia will not be angry anymore and peace will return."

They couldn't believe what they were hearing. Opeli was shocked to hear the king's words. She would have to talk to the king at length to figure out what was going on. The council too seemed to feel the king shouldn't say anymore.

"Please do not be afraid of the future. Peace is coming."

The crowd murmured. They had heard some unbelievable things. They weren't sure if they could believe it all. They knew the boy was the king, but he was still a boy. Opeli stepped forward before things got out of hand. She proceeded with the ceremony to distract from the words the king had said. Once the celebrations were over, she escorted the king to the throne room.

Ezran saw the throne his father used to sit on. He suppressed the emotions rising up in him. He sat on the throne as the people around him kneeled.

The ceremony was now over. One of the council members stepped forward, to ask about what the king had said earlier. Ezran recounted the events for those present. He didn't mention the moon nexus or the attempted kidnapping by Soren and Claudia. Claudia, Soren and Corvus had been in the audience all along. Claudia was surprised at Ezran's omission. Corvus thought if the king wasn't willing to reveal it, he wasn't in a position to either. He was going to report to General Amaya however. Ezran also didn't mention Callum's magic, one unbelievable thing was already too much for the people here.

Opeli and many of those present were shocked by the devotion of the princes for their kingdom. Even as their father was being cut down they only thought of the future of the kingdom. She suddenly felt teary eyed. The kingdom of Katolis couldn't have asked for a better king.

"This Viren's treachery runs deeper than we could have ever imagined. The scoundrel must be executed," one of the lords exclaimed.

"I thought his crimes thus far were bad enough, defying the laws of the land, impersonating a regent, stealing the royal seal, murdering his own people. I say have this traitor executed today," another lord shouted.

Claudia felt her father was being falsely accused.

"No, everything my father did was for the sake of Katolis. Ezran don't do this," Claudia pleaded.

"You dare the address the king by name, the house of Viren has no respect for the laws of the land, seize her," a council member commanded the guards.

As the guards approached her and Claudia prepared to cast magic, Ezran shouted "No, stop. Please, let her go." The guards stopped at the kings words, surprised at his plea. Claudia stopped too. Opeli thought the king would have to learn to address his directions as commands and not requests.

"There won't be a execution. I don't know what Viren did, but I don't want anyone killed." He felt so exhausted from the whole ordeal. Opeli could see the tiredness in the young king's eyes. She proceeded to end the session. As she left with the king, She saw Claudia bow to the king and mouth 'thank you'.

She led him to the royal chambers, the room his father had lived in.

Ezran didn't know how to think as he stepped into his father's room. He stood there staring at the desk his father was often at, making notes, writing letters. Pip wasn't there either. The room felt empty. He felt empty. Tears started streaming down his face before he even realised it. He asked Opeli to leave.

"Please excuse my rudeness, Your Majesty," she said as she stepped forward and hugged the boy. He tried to push her away, but she didn't let go.

"I'm not supposed to be crying, I'm the king," he protested.

"You don't have to be king in here," she consoled. Ezran couldn't hold himself back anymore and started sobbing. He didn't know how long he cried for. He fell asleep in Opeli's embrace. It had been the end of a long, arduous journey for him and exhaustion finally took him. She picked him up, placed him on the bed and tucked him in.

She returned to her office and slammed the door shut. She suddenly hated this world and everyone in it.

Ezran dreamed he was on a boat in an ocean. There was fog everywhere and he couldn't see a thing. A storm suddenly formed and gigantic waves crashed against his small boat. The boat capsized and he fell into the ocean. He fell through the water for an eternity until he landed at the very bottom. As he wandered the ocean floor he found a maze. He walked through the maze trying to find his way. He somehow always found his way back to the entrance of the maze and couldn't find a way out. He heard a voice calling him, he followed the voice and it led him out of the maze. He followed the voice and it led him to a cliff edge. The voice was more insistent now, it had been calling his name all this time. It knew him. The voice sounded familiar to him as well. It was a voice he'd been longing to hear. He jumped off the cliff and as he fell, he woke up.

"Ezran" said a voice.

"Ezran" the voice repeated.

Ezran was still groggy from sleep. He looked around to find Pip, his father's bird, perched at the foot of the bed. He was looking for the source of the voice, when the voice spoke his name again, "Ezran," it was the voice from his dream. It had come from the bird.

Ezran wasn't sure if he was dreaming. He slowly approached the bird. It stayed where it was and looked at him fondly.

"How are you, Ezran?" the voice asked. Ezran stared. Tears started forming and soon he couldn't stop the tears that came flooding. He embraced the bird and cried for a long time.

He eventually calmed down. The voice talked to him awhile, asked him questions, marvelled at his answers. Ezran held nothing back and spoke of all he knew. He asked the voice many things too. They talked the entire night, Ezran soon started writing things down. As dawn broke, the bird left. Ezran didn't want the voice to go, but did nothing to stop it. He fell asleep shortly afterwards.

He awoke around evening. Opeli came soon after he awoke. She assumed he had slept so late because the previous day was so overwhelming. She assured him and told him to rest properly and he could start his kingly duties when he felt ready. Ezran looked at his father's desk where he had been writing things down all night. He looked through the papers as Opeli waited.

"I want to get started now. Gather the council and the evidence on Viren. And the materials on any other matters I need to deal with." Opeli was surprised to hear the commanding tone in the young king's voice. She worried there might be something wrong, but assented to the command. She bowed and left to make the arrangements. Ezran looked at the notes again, the path forward was more clear now.

The council soon gathered, as well as the ministers and some of the lords and ladies who could come in time. The new king was about to open his first court session and they wanted to get their impression of the king as early as possible. Most of them had not been present for his coronation, and didn't want the new king to be offended.

"Your Majesty," began a council member, "it is most unusual to hold court so late in the day..." Ezran interrupted before the council member could continue.

"I understand, but we don't have the luxury of time. There are too many pressing matters to handle. In my absence the kingdom has stagnated, much work has piled up and we have a lot of catching up to do," Ezran had spent a lot of time watching his father talk to his court. He and Callum had spent a lot of time perfecting their impersonations. It was one of their favourite things to do.

The council member was a bit taken by how easily the young king spoke. He looked at his colleagues and nodded at the king.

"There are many matters..." Ezran interrupted again.

"Let's start with Viren," he said, "Tell me of the things he has done and show me the proofs of his actions". Claudia and Soren were in the audience. Ezran had not looked at them once the entire time.

The council member gestured to a guard who stepped forward. She explained the events as well as they understood them. The unauthorised use of the royal seal, impersonating a regent of the kingdom, calling a summit of the pentarchy without the approval of the council or the kingdom, resisting arrest were all listed. Ezran heard from the Crow Master, Opeli and others as witnesses. The royal scribe wrote down everything that had been said.

Claudia felt a knot forming in the pit of her stomache. Soren felt powerless, this wasn't a problem swords could solve. If they did anything wrong, the whole of the kingdom would turn against them. Their father would be in a much worse situation.

Ezran then summoned Viren. He came bound in chains. He looked at them all in contempt. He was equally unimpressed with the boy king. He didn't kneel or bow.

"Viren, you dare to offend His Majesty, does your treachery have no bounds?" a lord shouted.

"His Majesty?" Viren mocked, "My friend, King Harrow is dead, what I see before me is a puppet you all have engineered. You have turned my friend's son against me. You are all plotting my murder," he hissed.

"You go too far, Viren" shouted an enraged council member. Others joined him too in cursing Viren. Viren scoffed and paid them no mind.

"I am not a puppet, Viren," Ezran said as he looked at the dark mage in the eye.

"Oh, and how would you know?" Viren challenged.

"Because, I'm not going to have you executed," Ezran said.

"Your Majesty..." began many of those present.

"Silence," Ezran commanded. Those who were about to speak, lost their voice. For a moment it felt like King Harrow was standing there in front of them instead of a boy. Viren too seemed surprised.

"Tell me your version of events, Viren," he asked. Viren looked at Ezran for a long time, before he spoke.

"I did all of those things you accuse me of. I did them for Katolis. We are on the brink of war and none of you have the slightest idea of what's coming. You bicker amongst yourselves for personal gains. You run away from reality, you distort it to escape your fears. None of you have the guts to do the right thing, so it falls to me and you condemn me for it." Viren spoke passionately, "And you boy, what do you know of the world, of the elves and dragons? You know nothing. We are helpless against them, our powers are nothing compared to them. That egg could have helped us, it could have become our greatest weapon against them and you simply handed it over to them. Your father would have never approved, you are no king to me," Viren spat out his words like a venomous snake. Ezran's hands tightened into fists. He fought hard to control his anger. He thought back to his conversation last night. He told himself he had time, he didn't have to react right away, he had to be patient and wait until he was ready.

Viren scoffed, "What's the matter boy? Regretting your stupidity? Its not too late, we can still join with the other four kingdoms..." Ezran raised his hand. He slowly stood up.

"Do not presume to tell me what my father would approve of. I know how my father chose to live in his last moments. He rejected you and your dark magic. He chose death over your magic. He would never have chosen to use an unborn baby as a weapon. He would have wanted me to return that egg to its mother." Everyone in the audience was shocked at Ezran's manner and his words. They couldn't believe this was a mere boy. They felt King Harrow lived on in his son. Viren was shaking. He tried to say something but could think of nothing to counter with. Ezran didn't wait for him.

"But I do believe you. I believe you were acting with the best of intentions. You wanted to do the right thing for Katolis," Ezran paused. Everyone in the audience did not expect this turn of events. Claudia and Soren felt hope all of a sudden. Viren suddenly felt alarmed, things were taking a turn he had altogether not expected.

"Which is why I am perplexed by one of your actions. Why did you kill the guards who tried to arrest you?" Ezran asked. Viren had not expected this line of enquiry. In terms of all the things he had done, the death of a few guards seemed inconsequential to him.

"You claim you were acting in service of Katolis. How did those guards prevent you from performing your duties for the kingdom of Katolis, such that you had to kill them?" Ezran probed. Viren wanted to answer but could find nothing to say. When he thought about it all he wanted at that point was to not be arrested. He felt rage from the frustration that had been building up inside him be released and before he knew it he had killed those guards. He wondered if Aaravos had some hand in it, but concluded that was impossible. He had just performed a spell to unleash havoc on the four kingdoms, which may have affected his mind temporarily.

"You are a mage of great renown, you must have countless ways of disabling your enemies without taking their lives. You could have made them faint, blinded them, turned the floor to quicksand or glue or stopped them in any other way you wanted. They were no danger to you. Why did you choose to kill them?" Ezran asked, this time his voice had more power. Viren had no answer. His head hung low. He tried to think, but he couldn't find any justification for his action. A flimsy reason would just make him look like a liar and coward who wanted to protect his own skin.

"You committed murder, unjustly. You killed the guards of the kingdom of Katolis. That is your crime," Ezran concluded, "I said earlier that I wouldn't have you executed. That is still true. But I'm not treating you specially. I don't think a murder can be resolved by another. My father abhorred executions but thought them necessary. I don't agree. I don't want people to die. There will be no more executions in the kingdom of Katolis," Ezran decreed, "this is my first command as king, see to its execution." The council nodded, mostly out of habit. They were too shocked to respond. Opeli's head was spinning. The whole situation was too surreal. The difference between the king yesterday and the king today was just too different.

"The kingdom of Katolis does not forget those who serve it. The families of those who were killed at the hand of Lord Viren will be suppoorted until the day they die," he made another decree, "The same applies to you Lord Viren. You have served Katolis greatly while my father reigned and we have not forgotten your contributions. You will not be imprisoned but will be freed. You are stripped of your rank and all privileges associated. You are now a common citizen and no longer have the right to attend my court without seeking authorisation. You are also forbidden from using magic of any form within the kingdom of Katolis. You must also turn over all magical materials you have in your possession to the kingdom of Katolis" Viren wanted to protest, but couldn't think of anything substantial.

As Ezran gestured, a guard proceeded to unshackle the mage. Viren tried to think of something, there had to be some silver lining to be found here. He was suddenly enlightened and he kneeled. "Your Majesty, I would like to thank you for your magnanimity. I made a grave error and caused the lives of innocents to be lost. I accept your wise judgement and your terms. However, I believe the kingdom of Katolis needs a mage to advice on the magical, and I recommend my daughter Claudia. You might think I have some ulterior motive, but I truly think there is no other mage in Katolis more devoted to the kingdom."

"I accept Claudia as the official mage of the kingdom of Katolis," Ezran assented readily.

"I am sorry for the words I said earlier, Your Majesty, I was wrong. I will accept any punishment for my impudence," he drolled.

"There will be none. Get out," Ezran was getting tired of his snake tongue.

Viren was unperturbed. He felt like he had made it out of this situation quite well. He didn't die and while he lost his position, his daughter was there to pick it up so the situation was still salvagable. He rose and bowed to the king before leaving. Claudia and Soren left with their father. The council and the ministers weren't entirely happy with the outcome, but couldn't complain either. The king had found a good compromise. Had the king gone too far, they feared the dark mage would retaliate. The lords and ladies found themselves at awe at the boy king. Opeli wanted to know exactly when Harrow had trained his son to be so adept as a ruler.

"So what's next?" Ezran asked.

* * *

Viren decided not to dwell on the past. His children had failed to kill the princes, but that was alright. The boy king wasn't entirely an idiot as he had feared. Ezran reminded him very much of Harrow. Just as shrewd as his old man. The boy didn't have him killed, because he might have use for him later. Viren laughed inside, "Finally, someone capable," he thought.

He had lost the egg. But maybe that was good too. He could have used the egg as a deterrant, but it being returned may delay any war and it bought him time. He could later find ways of killing the brat when it hatched. What he needed most was power, enough power such that the elves and the dragons wouldn't be able to attack them without consequences. Maybe enough power to return humans back to Xadia. He had to learn from his mistakes though. The king seemed opposed to him killing the people of Katolis, which he agreed with entirely. He planned to help the victims of his mistake in anyway he could. The king didn't seem opposed to his methods however, which he was quite impressed with. He needed to have a long conversation with the elf in the mirror about that day and pry more information out of him about ways to gain more power.

* * *

When Ezran saw the small box of broken bones and rotten body parts, his eyes twitched. He had asked Viren to turn over all his magical ingredients, this was what Viren had provided. He realised he had made a mistake in accepting Claudia as the royal mage, as Viren would claim that all magical artifacts belonged to her and she would need them to perform her duties. He thought of Viren's magic as particularly dangerous, especially given how Viren thought. He didn't believe for a second that Viren would actually stop using magic, he asked for the ingredients to make it harder for him. He felt a headache coming as he considered how to deal with this. It was going to be another long night.

* * *


	7. Hope

"No that can't be right," Callum protested, "I've been doing magic all this time. I wasn't in any danger."

"What kind of spells have you performed so far?" the dragon enquired, its fire a green volume.

Callum thought for a moment. He only knew two spells: Aspiro and Fulminis. He told the dragon as such. The dragon nodded as if it already knew.

"You have not cast Fulminis since you connected to magic, only Aspiro," it wasn't a question more of a statement.

Callum thought back and realised he had casted magic only three times without the primal stone, first to test the magic, once to help Zym fly and the last to show Sol Regem. Everytime he had used Aspiro. He nodded.

"Fulminis alters the nature of the wind somehow to form destructive forces," he wasn't a Storm dragon, he had no idea how they made their lightning. "For a being with an Archanum, the Archanum bears the force and makes it safe for usage. For a being with a primal stone, the primal stone acts as an Archanum would and bears the power. A human with neither is burnt to a crisp," said the dragon. Rayla was horrified. When she translated for Callum, he felt his blood run cold. He was starting to get the gist of the dragon's fire, but couldn't be certain of his hazy interpretation. When he heard his suspicions be confirmed, he was terrified with the realisation that he had been so close to death.

"I had mistook you in the beginning for a human who had formed an Archanum, I was afraid of what this could mean and why I thought to kill you. But as I looked closely I could see you have no such thing. Any volatile magic performed by you will have unpredictable results and will likely destroy you. Many of your ancestors fell to the same cause. We dragons, are outsiders to humans and only heard rumours of such humans perishing. You are the first human I have personally met who has created a bridge to the primal sources."

"Humans have always been enamoured with power, and that power ended up destroying them eventually," the dragon sighed, "Even dark magic has its cost. It is a magic of destruction, it not only destroyed the magical creature but also the dark mage, little by little, so subtly they didn't even realise how the magic was corroding them. Elves weren't above the temptation of greater power either and neither are we dragons, I believe. None can escape the allure of power, eventually all fall prey to it, it is inevitable."

A thought suddenly occured to Callum, "Were there elves who tried to do dark magic?"

"How can you ask such a question, Callum? Of course we'd never do such a thing." Rayla was incensed Callum would even suggest such a thing.

The dragon didn't immediately confirm or deny the possibility, he looked deeply at Callum.

"Yes," he breathed eventually. Rayla couldn't believe it.

"That's impossible. We elves hold life as most sacred. There is no way there would be a dark mage amongst us." Rayla protested vehemently.

"The elf was called Aaravos," a scarlet flame erupted from the dragon's maw.

Rayla had never heard of this name.

"Aaravos," the name was familiar to Callum. The magical cube he had was called 'the key of Aaravos' in his dad's letter. He took it out of his bag. The sun rune, which had been shining dimly in the bag, glowed bright as it pointed towards Sol Regem.

The dragon looked at the curious object.

"Rayla, in the letter my dad wrote to me, he meant for me to have this cube. He left it in the Banther Lodge for me. He called it the 'key of Aaravos'. He said it had been passed down through the generations and could open a treasure in Xadia" Callum explained. The dragon's eyes widened when it heard the name. Rayla was repulsed to think they had been traveling with the belonging of a dark elf.

"Let me see that object," the dragon rasped.

Callum quickly placed the object in front of the dragon. Sol Regem looked closely at the small cube. He used his magic to probe it, but all that happened was that the sun rune glowed brighter. His magic couldn't penetrate the cube at all. He couldn't see any joints or openings either. The dragon placed a foot on it and exerted a little pressure. He then slowly increased the pressure until he had placed his entire weight on it. The cube deformed slightly but when he stepped off it, it returned to its original shape. The dragon then placed the cube in his mouth and tried to crush it in his jaws. His teeth penetrated the cube but when he opened his mouth, the cube returned to normal. Getting slightly annoyed, he flew away to a distant mountain. Callum and Rayla heard a distant boom some time later and the dragon returned with the cube, which looked unscathed when he dropped it on the ground.

"This cube has been imbued with eternity," the dragon explained, "it cannot be opened or destroyed while the magic is in affect. Aaravos was a startouched elf, he was proficient in the eternal aspect of the stars. This item must have been important to him, its not easy to make something eternal. It is most likely a key, but to what I don't know. Keep it for now and present it to the Dragon Queen when you meet her," Sol Regem adviced. He silently considered exactly why the elf had made it and why the cube had been in the hands of the humans for so long. Did Aaravos have some connection to the human dark mages? He thought of the missing mirror, and suddenly he feared there might some kind of plot no one had expected.

Callum marvelled at the possibilities of magic. But he soon felt despondent when he realised even though he had believed he had opened the doors to magic, he could not step through. 'What was the point of all this?', he suddenly questioned. Why were they going to the trouble of going to Xadia, how could his magic represent hope for reconciliation between the two sides if he could not even use it. When he presented his question to Sol Regem, the dragon sat down and seemed to consider his words for a while.

"I have been thinking about the relationship between the humans and we magical creatures for a long time. Some of us believe that humans are inherently evil. I don't think that is true. I believe we are more similar than we are dissimilar. It is hard for me to understand the human perspective, being a dragon. It's my conjecture however that there cannot be peace until humans can stand side by side with us magical creatures. So long as we are stronger because of our magic, humans will seek magical power however they can acquire it. It may have started with a few humans who sought power, but now because of the fear and hatred that has accumulated, humans will never give up dark magic and there can be no reconciliation until then."

Hearing Rayla's translation, Callum found himself agreeing. Dark magic was the root of the entire problem. And as Sol Regem said, humans would never give up power so long as the enemy had it.

"After I met you, I saw a different path. What if human's didn't have to do dark magic to do magic? What if all along we had been fighting the wrong battle? What if we had helped those few humans who had forged their own paths and found a way for them use their magic without it destroying them? I feel, the lands of Xadia would be a much different place today if we had acted differently so long ago," the dragon concluded.

Rayla was considering the implications of what the dragon was suggesting. He seemed to want to arm the humans with magic. She translated for Callum, who thought the dragon's thinking was very unique and likely quite radical for someone from Xadia.

"If we had given humans an alternative to dark magic, things wouldn't have progressed to the point where all of humanity lives in the banished borderlands, and humans and Xadia consider each other to be enemies," the dragon lamented.

"Is it too late?" Callum asked. The dragon didn't answer. It looked off into the distance.

"I don't know," he responded, his fire grey and lifeless.

They remained silent for a while. Callum had a question he'd been wondering for a long time.

"Sol Regem, I still don't understand why you would choose to help us humans," he admitted.

Sol Regem looked at the human. He didn't speak right away.

"We of the dragon race are naturally aloof, we don't usually spend much time with others, storm dragons are an exception. Humans angered the Dragons when some dark mages tried to hunt a dragon for their foul dark magic. We were enraged. If it wasn't for the elves, we dragons would have destroyed humanity. I felt I needed to learn more about these humans, to see if they deserved the elves' protection. I started living near a human settlement and observed them for a long time. They were a peaceful bunch. They were very loving towards one another, no different from the elves or the dwarfs. I realised that there were those among them who sought power, but that wasn't all there was. They were curious, playful, wonderous beings. They had only a short time but lived fulfilling lives. A human in their short life experienced more than I did in a thousand years." the dragon remarked.

Seeing Callum's surprised expression, he added, "We dragons tend to sleep a lot."

"Oh." Callum wondered exactly how long dragons slept for.

"I think humans have a lot of potential. I wish to see a time in Xadia when all races live together in harmony," Sol Regem said.

Rayla nodded. Callum too agreed with the dragon's sentiment.

Zym woke up and the party decided to proceed. They got on the dragon's back and left for the Dragon Queen's palace.


	8. Proposal

They could see the palace from a distance. It was dome like in structure and seemed to be made of many shards of glass, which protruted outwards.

Sol Regem descended well ahead of the palace. They walked towards the palace entrance. The dragonguard saw Sol Regem and greeted. When they saw Zym they realised who he was. They saw the moonshadow elf and thought nothing of it. When they noticed the human, their weapons were immediately drawn.

Sol Regem breathed a fire and stopped the elves from attacking. They hesitated a moment before one of them ran off. Soon a black dragon emerged. The dragon looked at the human and immediately became enraged, he roared and charged. Sol Regem stepped forward and collided with the black dragon.

"Sol Regem," the black dragon roared, the earth around them vibrated "What are you doing?"

"Calm your anger, Terra Voss. The human is with me," Sol Regem tried to placate the other dragon, "I have brought the Dragon Prince to see his mother"

Terra Voss was about to charge again, when he realised what Sol Regem had said. He blanked for a moment and took a close look. He remembered what Sol Tae had told him. Everyone present was looking at Zym. Being the center of attention suddenly made Zym very shy, he hid behind Rayla and Callum.

"Human," Terra Voss roared, "get away from the Dragon Prince." He prepared to charge again. Suddenly lightning danced across the clear sky, struck all around them. The black dragon froze and looked behind. There was a pale blue dragon at the entrance. It stood gazing at them a moment before its eyes went wide and it took to the air. It landed behind them all, with grace Callum didn't expect from a creature that size. A low melancholy roar emerged from the blue dragon, as lightning danced all around them. Callum could feel his skin tingling. It didn't hurt. Zym looked around the lightning, and suddenly felt very comfortable. The lightning gathered where the baby dragon was and enveloped him gently. The lightning gathered under Zym and lifted him off the ground and carried him to his mother. He felt very comfortable and soon nodded off. She walked into the palace not paying anyone else any mind as her lightning carried her child in a comfortable embrace while rocking the sleeping dragon gently.

Callum was flabbergasted to say the least. Rayla had never seen the lightning of the Dragon Queen before, who was said to be the most gifted being when it came to lightning, and considered herself blessed. She could brag for the rest of her life.

The black dragon didn't seem too interested in Callum anymore. He followed the Queen. Sol Regem gestured at Callum and Rayla to follow him. They followed close behind. Callum didn't want to give the dragonguard time to collect themselves and attack him.

The palace was really more of a humungous room. Callum marvelled at the way the crystals of the palace ceiling glistened. Actually he wasn't sure ceiling was the right word as there were no walls.

Sol Regem led them to a small corner, where they waited. Callum enquired what had just happened.

"She is passing on her lightning to her son," the dragon replied, "If Cae Ventus was here, he would have passed on his magic too.". When Callum asked who Cae Ventus was, the dragon replied that was the name of the Dragon King. He also added, the Dragon Queen is called Cae Fluae.

They waited for some time before a dragonguard came to see them. She escorted them to another area under the dome. She offered food to Rayla and Callum. She bowed to Sol Regem and left. They waited so long Callum and Rayla dozed off. They awoke to find Sol Regem gone. They considered leaving to find him, but given the hostility Callum incited amongst everyone here, they decided it might be better to stay put.

Sol Regem returned later. He looked at them and gestured them to follow. He led them to the Queen. Rayla greeted the Queen by placing her hand on her heart and her body glowed with a faint moon shine.

"My Queen," she began, "I have returned from the mission you gave us. I discovered that the humans had not destroyed your child but had stolen the egg. I was helped by the human princes, who helped recover the egg. Prince Callum returned with me to Xadia to right the wrong the humans had committed. On the way we could not protect the egg and it fell into icy water," she did not intend to hide anything. Those present gasped, Rayla continued, "Fortunately Prince Callum had in his possession a Sky Primal stone which contained a storm, we were able to hatch the Dragon Prince and save his life."

The entire time the Queen had not reacted. Callum almost thought she was apathetic about the whole situation. Lightning emerged from her.

"He calls himself Zym," the Queen said.

"Princ... I mean King Ezran named him as such," Rayla replied nervously, "They were very close, the young King and the Dragon Prince, inseparable," she laughed nervously.

The Queen's eyes narrowed. She looked like a raging storm about to erupt. But the expression was gone as soon as it came. Rayla suddenly had a bad premonition.

"Tell me everything," the Queen commanded.

Rayla proceeded to recount the story. She left nothing secret, from her reluctance to kill the human patrol guard which almost jeopardised the mission to Callum's connection to magic. Those who heard about Callum were shocked.

"It is not an archanum," Sol Regem said to quell the worry and fear that was about to rise in the audience. He wished the elf had explained properly to begin with.

Once Rayla finished her story, the Queen remained quiet. After a while she looked at Callum.

"Why did you choose to save my son?" Rayla translated the Queen's words.

Callum hesitated. He felt his throat dry up. His legs felt wobbly. He remembered what his mother told him. He breathed and slowly calmed himself.

"My father, King Harrow, did a terrible thing. He led the humans to kill the Dragon King and stole the Dragon Prince. I cannot undo what my father has done, but I can return the Prince. I do not wish for war, " he said.

"If you did not wish for war, you shouldn't have started it" spat an elf. She wore a fancy headdress and had a staff atop which a small sun rotated freely. "You took the Dragon King's life, and expect no retaliation?" she mocked.

"You killed my father. He has paid for his mistake, with his life. There is no reason to waste more lives by meaninglessly going to war," Callum argued.

"What is the life of a human to the King of Dragons?" the elf sneered.

"You cannot compare the value of one life to another, all life is equal and precious," Callum rebutted.

The elf seemed surprised. "What do you know of our ways, human?" she snarled, ready to attack.

Sol Regem suddenly growled and stepped forward.

"This human is under my protection, those who wish to harm him must go through me," his whole body was covered with multicoloured fire.

Everyone was shocked, then they noticed the flame atop Callum's forehead which had diminished to near invisible, suddenly flare up with the same multicoloured flames which covered Sol Regem.

The Sunfire elf was shocked, "You pledged to him?" she asked, incredulous. The Queen seemed unperturbed and simply observed silently.

"His life is my life, if he dies so do I," Sol Regem said calmly.

The dragons and elves in the audience were shocked beyond measure.

"This human must be a dark mage," accused one.

"He has twisted the mind of Sol Regem," concluded another.

Sol Regem said nothing and simply waited. The audience did too for the Queen. Lightning emerged and she asked, "Why did you pledge to the human, Sol Regem?"

"Because I see hope in this human, hope for permanent peace between humans and Xadia." he explained, "I cannot allow that hope to be extinguished."

"Explain," the Queen commanded.

"Humans have always sought knowledge of magic. We observed them passively as they fell upon a darkness they could not escape from. Dark magic took hold of them and has not released them even today. Banishing them has not solved anything. Humans still perform dark magic on their side of the border. I propose we help humans escape from the clutches of dark magic. Long ago we knew of the second path humans could take to learn magic, it was a path that always resulted in the human mage's death. We let those precious few who sought to free humanity from their dependence on dark magic die off. If we had acted differently back then, there would be no dark magic today. We must find a way for humans to do magic without Archani," Sol Regem said.

There was a moment of silence before the whole gallery exploded.

"Sol Regem have you gone completely mad," shouted Terra Voss, "you want to teach those vile creatures how to harness magic. Look at what they do with dark magic, they'll poison the primal sources with their evil," he shouted. The other dragons agreed.

The elves too seemed firmly opposed to the idea.

A red dragon, who Callum now realised was the dragon they had saved before said nothing and simply observed. Every so often it would look at Callum deeply.

"Its not even possible, we have tried ourselves. To touch the primal sources without an Archanum is to court death," spoke a Skywing elf, "it is thanks to our Archanum that the first researchers didn't perish but were only badly injured. Humans don't have an Archanum to protect them and would naturally die, there is no way to help them. Magical research on this had been very thorough and it concluded there is no way for any being to touch the primal sources safely without an Archanum." the elf concluded.

"Callum, cast Aspiro," Sol Regem instructed. The audience members were surprised, but most of them sneered. They couldn't wait to see this human be torn apart by the magic.

Callum calmed himself. He thought of the Sky. He was slightly afraid of the magic and gathered as little as possible. As he had done before he, traced out the rune, spoke "Aspiro", and breathed. A gentle breeze emerged from his mouth and blew across the palace.

There was silence. They were looking at him as if they expected him to explode. When he didn't they stared at him with even more determination. It felt to him like they thought they could cause him to spontaneously combust through their gaze.

"Impossible," shouted the Skywing elf.

"I'm aware of the research elves have done in the past," Sol Regem began, "they tried to touch other primal sources with their Archani. An Archanum is meant to connect to a single primal source, none other. We have never tried to connect to the primal without Archani because we cannot comprehend such a thing. But this human, who was born without an Archanum couldn't imagine doing it any other way. He has accomplished something we never could, I suspect, because he is human."

The gallery was quiet now. They were thinking about the revelation and its consequences. Sol Regem decided to strike while the iron was hot.

"There is much we could learn from him. Imagine a day where we aren't bound by our Archanum, but can touch and manipulate all primal magics as we wish," he paused for effect, "when a Sunfire elf can soar through the skies like a Skywing elf or a Startouched elf can bask in the moon like a Moonshadow elf. A day when we dragons can connect our magic to any source we like and live closer to each other in harmony, not isolated from each other for centuries at a time. The once separate primal sources may even be combined to create magic we have never seen in Xadia," Sol Regem said passionately, "if you could connect to another primal source, what if we could combine the two sources, what kind of new magic might form from that? And why stop at two, we might even learn to control all six primal sources at once."

The audience was panting. They were blown away by the possibilities. The Skywing elf in particular looked the most passionate. Callum only had an inkling of what was said. Rayla however was similarly blown away.

Perhaps only the Queen noticed the smirk that had formed for a moment on Sol Regem's face, before it disappeared. She had to admit he made a very compelling case.

"And in return for his help in uncovering the mysteries of the primal, what does the human prince wish for in return?" the queen asked.

When Rayla translated, Callum immediately replied, "I wish for the war to be averted." Sol Regem was slightly annoyed at the boy's naivety.

"You must be mistaken Callum," spoke the dragon, "you returned the Dragon Prince and the elves took the life of the human king, there are no more grudges to be paid. There is no justified reason for war, thus there can be no war. You cannot ask for something that cannot be given, young mage." Sol Regem admonished.

The Queen's eyes narrowed and it took everything in Callum's power to not run away at that moment. Sol Regem looked unperturbed as if he hadn't noticed the Queen glaring at him.

"Well what does he want then, Sol Regem?" asked the Queen.

"Whatever methods we learn from him about safely connecting to magic must be shared with him freely, he must be provided with magical tutelage from experts of all primal sources, tomes on magic, food and lodging for the time he is to stay here, his safety in the time he is to live in Xadia, personal expenses, and the same freedom granted to every other inhabitant in Xadia," listed the crafty dragon. When they thought he'd finished, he added "would be a good start."

"Why don't we worship the ground he walks on while we're at it?" spoke an incensed elf.

"I don't recommend it, but if you wish to I wouldn't stop you," Sol Regem said nonchalantly. The elf grinded his teeth but said nothing.

"And is he allowed to teach his fellow humans, the ways to safely use magic when he returns to the human kingdoms?" asked the Queen.

There were quite a few elves and dragons who'd rather the human stayed in Xadia in perpetuity.

"Of course," replied Sol Regem, "otherwise the whole thing is meaningless."

"I need to think about this," replied the Queen. Sol Regem nodded. She left with her advisors.

(Author's note: Sol Regem pushed up his glasses which flashed with light as he lawyered like no one had ever lawyered in Xadia before.)


	9. Discussion

The court was adjourned. Callum, Rayla and Sol Regem withdrew to the space they occupied before. Although there were no walls, and thus the space could not be called a room, there were enough pillars, shards, bookshelfs, objects which Callum could only assume were magical, that their view was limited to their space only. Rayla could see shadows moving in the distance keeping an eye on them. Sol Regem saw them too, but made no mention of them.

"How do you think the Queen will respond?" Callum asked Sol Regem.

"They will certainly want the methods to connect to the primal sources from you. The rest...," he paused, "I am not sure how they will respond," the dragon said. He could somewhat predict what they were thinking but couldn't be certain. He decided to take this moment to ask Callum something he'd wanted to ask since the beginning, "While we have this time, would you tell me about how you came to learn magic?" He hadn't asked all this time because he wasn't sure if Callum completely trusted him. He hoped through his actions he'd been able to show that he had been sincere.

Callum reflected. He couldn't say that he really understood how he came to make the connection or if he could even teach someone else. Callum described his experience as well as he could. As Sol Regem listened, Rayla seemed to get the impression that Sol Regem already expected what Callum was going to say. Afterwards Sol Regem spent a long while in silence, pondering on it.

"Sol Regem, there's something I've been wondering about for a while," Rayla began after a long silence, "You seem to believe there is a way for Callum to do magic safely. Do you have some kind of plan?"

Sol Regem looked at the elf a moment and said, "Oh, I wish I could tell you I have it all figured out. I don't really have a plan, more of a hunch. Or maybe a belief. I think it will work out," the dragon replied as if it was natural.

Rayla was shocked at how casual Sol Regem was about it. She suspected he definitely had a plan but wasn't willing to divulge it. Callum reflected on the gravity of the situation and realised how much was depending on him. Whether Sol Regem had a plan or not, there couldn't be a guarantee it would work. He would have to play his part. He didn't know if he would succeed.

"Do you think they will agree?" Rayla asked.

"I hope so," the dragon sighed.

While they waited Callum took the time to draw the things he'd seen. The Dragon Queen, the Sunfire elf, the audience, the strange objects, the sharding roof. There was so much here, he spent a long time drawing it all before it escaped his memory.

____________________________________________________________________

"Its the most preposterous thing I've ever heard," began Stora in the Queen's private chamber, who was the Sunfire elf who had been on the court arguing with Callum, "Teach our enemy. What is Sol Regem thinking? Is he even thinking?" she felt incredulous. "The whole thing is highly suspect. Its possible Sol Regem is not in his right mind," the implication shook her. "My Queen, we should inspect Sol Regem for dark magic. It is my belief that he has been corrupted by human mages." Many of the advisors present seemed to be silently agreeing. If the implications were true, it meant human dark mages had advanced by leaps and bounds in the time they spent isolated. Now they could even manipulate the mind of a high dragon like Sol Regem and compel him to pledge 'willingly'.

"It is not possible," the Queen stated simply.

Stora wanted to argue, but thought better of it. She wanted to know how the Queen was so certain, but if the Queen didn't want to reveal it, it wasn't her place to pry.

"Even if Sol Regem is sane, to suggest we help our enemy is insanity," she concluded. Everyone seemed to agree on this point.

"However, it goes without saying that, we do need to understand how the human managed to connect to magic all on his own, and still be alive," noted an elderly Startouched elf called Luren, "We had heard of this rare phenomena, but so far as I'm aware no one in Xadia has ever studied it," he looked around to see that no one else in the audience had ever seen such a record.

"We don't need him to connect to magic. We are already connected to magic. We just didn't believe it was possible, which is why we never sought to connect to other primal sources after the initial failures," retorted a Skywing elf called Haish.

"You underestimate his bridge," Luren disagreed. "If it was so easy to connect to another source, we would have naturally stumbled on to it in our long history. I suspect the reason we were never able to do it has to do with our arcanum". Luren was highly respected in the study of magic. As he spoke, the audience listened intently. He continued, "We are born with an arcanum, or a natural inclination towards a particular primal source. Perhaps, inclination is too weak a word. It is perhaps more accurate to say that each magic creature is intertwined with the magic they are born with. We cannot comprehend living without our inborn primal magic no more than a fish can understand living without water."

"Are you saying it's impossible?" asked Stora.

"No," Luren replied, "But I do believe it will be far harder for us. It's like a fish accustomed to water trying to live on land, metaphorically speaking. The fish would have to find a new way to breathe. This is not a field that has received much attention, and all of this is just my speculation, but I believe because humans have no natural born inclination, they are the perfect species to form bridges. To create a work of art it is better to start with a blank canvas, than one where someone has already painted something," he explained.

"Wait, are you saying humans are more capable than us in this regard?" Stora asked.

"We cannot say that for certain. While humans might have an advantage in this realm, I do not believes elves, dwarfs and dragons will be too disadvataged. We already have some experience with one form of magic, we understand how to control magic innately. Humans will have to learn. They might also have different talents. The human we saw, didn't look too old. He might have been quite talented. I imagine it took him a few years of study to create a connection," Luren hypothesised.

They all spent some time considering Luren's words.

"This is quite a predicament Sol Regem has presented to us. We cannot keep him here and we cannot let him go either," commented Ma'ajhor, who was a Moonshadow elf.

"Of course we can keep him here," argued Stora, "we won't harm him. He will have a good life in Xadia. He is too dangerous to be sent back to the human realms"

"I imagine to keep him here we would have to go through Sol Regem's corpse," commented Sol Tae, the Igni dragon who had been attacked by Soren and Claudia.

"With all due respect, it is naive to take Sol Regem at his word. I do not believe his pledge was anything so drastic," Stora replied, "He most likely worded his pledge very carefully. I imagine it was something along the lines of 'I will do everything in my power to protect you'. So long as he tries his best to protect the human he would be keeping his promise. Moreover, we're not even going to hurt the human, we'll just keep him here." Stora explained.

"I wasn't talking about his pledge," replied Sol Tae. "Sol Regem has carefully thought through how we'll react. He is not one to start anything without carefully thinking things through. He wants the humans to learn to control magic. He believes that is the solution to our current situation. If we try to keep the human here he will fight us to his death, whether he has pledged or not. The pledge simply let us know beforehand of his resolve."

They all knew the kind of being Sol Regem was. They could see that the only way to stop Sol Regem would be to convince him that he was wrong.

"Whether we keep the human here, does not really matter," said Lilia, a Skywing elf. "Eventually humans will figure out how to connect to magic safely. They might even use dark magic to do it, no it is most likely it will be with dark magic. It is inevitable."

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Stora.

"I do not think this human is unique," continued Lilia. "If he can do it so can others. Eventually a dark mage may make a connection to primal sources or meet someone who has made a connection and with their dark magic may find some twisted way to channel magic without harming themselves. That would be a danger the likes of which Xadia has never faced." Those in the audience were momentarily disgusted and filled with horror.

"These vile humans, there is no depth they will not sink to. This is another reason we should proceed with war and teach these humans about right and wrong," argued Stora.

"We cannot treat all humans as the same. This was our previous mistake. The past thousand years have taught us that we were no better. Let us not forget Aaravos," countered Ma'ajhor.

"I am not forgetting Aaravos," said Stora with gritted teeth. When she spoke the name, a hatred seethed out of her that seemed to suck the temperature from the room. "I do not wish to see another Aaravos emerge among the humans, which is why we must act fast. He is most likely loose among them. We must retrieve that mirror as quickly as possible."

"We still have time," answered Ma'ajhor, "the mirror is not so easily beaten. It would be a mistake to rush in, and reveal our hand to Aaravos. We won't be able to find the mirror easily, we will need the humans' help. A war would make it harder to locate the mirror."

"Fear is not a very good deterrant, either. The best motivator is self interest. The ideal situation would be if humans intrisically had a reason to reject dark magic," said Sol Tae.

"Wait, are you actually suggesting we help humans control magic?" Stora couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yes," said Sol Tae.

Everyone in the room were shocked to hear Sol Tae of all people suggest this and so directly.

"I agree with Sol Regem. If humans could use primal magic they would shun dark magic," said Sol Tae.

"Humans attacked you, they cut off your horn," pressed Stora. "How can you trust them?"

"Humans also saved me. That human was part of the effort to free me and I saw the dragon prince then. I was hurt and had to retreat to recover. I tracked them down later. I watched them escort the dragon prince to Xadia and saw them climb aboard Sol Regem. I don't think we should treat all humans as the same. They are like us. I think what Sol Regem is suggesting is that if we were powerless some us would succumb to the power of dark magic. Humans aren't innately despicable, their situation forces them to do things. If we press war, more dark mages will emerge from them. War would have the opposite effect of what we want. We should look for other solutions and Sol Regem's solution is the best one right now" Sol Tae said.

"We can't just naively teach them magic. Even if I agree with everything you said, its still suicidal to give weapons to our enemies" retorted Stora.

"Then we simply have to be not enemies," Sol Tae concluded.

Stora couldn't help but massage her temples. Dragon logic was just too strange for her to deal with. Lilia decided to chime in, "I think Sol Tae is suggesting there are ways for us introduce magic to humans without it harming us. If we spent some time thinking about it we should be able to come up with solutions. In the worst case where we cannot be certain whether humans will be friendly to us, we can act appropriately at that time. I believe, Sol Regem will not stand in our way if humans prove they are unable to reject dark magic," she concluded.

"Before we proceed however we have one thing we must determine. Whether humans can actually learn to use magic safely, that is still uncertain," pointed out Luren. They all nodded in agreement.

"My Queen, we have presented our views, the final decision rests upon you," Lilia pressed her hand to her heart.

"I agree. We will help the human find a way to control magic. If he succeeds we will consider things further. If he does not, then... we will need to continue with our previous plans," the Queen consented.


	10. Sun

The court was resumed. The Queen spoke directly to Callum.

"I have taken the advice of my council and have come to a decision. We will agree to your terms under certain conditions of our own. We cannot reveal these conditions however until you are able to demonstrate that it is possible for humans to learn to control magic safely. We will help you accomplish this in any way we can. It is our desire that humans do learn to control magic and can eventually live together with Xadians in peace," the Queen paused while Rayla translated.

"If you do not wish to proceed you are free to leave. We will escort you safely to the Xadian border. There will be no war regardless of your decision. I have already dispatched a message to the border notifying General Janai. She will let the humans know about this as well. If you agree I will dispatch another messege about your decision so that humans who are concerned about your wellbeing will rest easy." The Xadian audience murmured among themselves about this decision. They weren't certain about this decision. Most of them didn't support it. But they were willing to look deeper into the issue to try to understand why the Queen decided as she had. They knew there would be an audience later between them and the council to discuss this matter.

Callum was relived to hear that at least the war had been averted. He looked to Sol Regem, who nodded his approval. When he asked Rayla, she didn't voice her opinions and told him it would be his decision. He considered the conditions that were not revealed. He wondered exactly why they were hidden, it didn't sound good to him. He couldn't let it go and agree to unknown demands.

"Why are the conditions hidden?" he asked.

The Queen looked at him a moment and directed everyone to leave. They were a bit surprised but assented to the command. In the court only the Queen, her council and Callum's trio remained. She spoke then, "As a sign of our sincerity, I will tell you the truth. We consider humans learning magic to be a dangerous thing for Xadia. We don't know how humans will act with their new found power. It is our hope that with primal magic humans will be able to shun dark magic and we will no longer have a reason to be separated. I want to see a future where our two sides are united. However, the thousand year grudge between us will not evaporate overnight. We want humans to learn magic, but to do so in such a way that Xadia will not be harmed. We can't formulate plans for how to do that until we see exactly how you might manage to control magic. We intend for every human to eventually have the opportunity to learn magic, however in the beginning we will control how magic is taught in the human realms. That is our condition. We will determine who you can teach the methods we discover. You will be magically binded to prevent you from revealing magical secrets without our permission. This binding need not be for your entire life and will naturally unbind in the circumstance where human mages aren't a threat to Xadia. If you do not agree to the binding, your other option would be to stay in Xadia in perpetuity. We will ensure you are not able to reveal the discovered methods to the pentarchy. There may be other requirements depending on unforeseen circumstances. Should you agree, you will be a free citizen of Xadia otherwise and will be free to enter and exit as you wish. All of our laws will apply to you and so will all of our protections," the Queen explained.

Sol Regem wasn't surprised and thought the Queen was being very honorable revealing the truth. Callum had thought it would be something like that. He could understand Xadia's point of view. He didn't want to believe that humans would attack Xadia when they learned magic, but couldn't bring himself to deny the possibility given the recent past. He thought of his options. He could go home now and spend the rest of his days as he was. He could forget about magic, and help Ezran in what little way he could. He wasn't good at much. Magic was the only useful thing he had. If he agreed he'd have to become a Xadian quasi-prisoner for a very long time. However, if he could help bring about permanent peace between humans and Xadia, that had to be worth any price, even his own freedom.

"I agree."

-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Callum wrote a letter to Ezran explaining his situation and his decision. He hoped Ezran would understand. Callum was really worried about him and how being king was going for him. He wished he could be there to help him. He didn't understand politics all that much and doubted he would be of any actual help, but maybe he could have helped Ezran in other ways. He had to take consolation from the belief that his staying in Xadia would eventually help everyone. The messenger assured him that the Queen had instructed her to allow for communications to be established between Callum and the humans. His letters had to be written in the presence of a council member. He learned her name was Lilia, who was warm and asked him many things about his life and humans. She also answered his questions about Xadia.

Lilia was also the one who gave him a place to stay. It was in a village of elves and where she also lived. The villagers were mostly warm and didn't discriminate against him. He could tell not all of them were thrilled to be living with a human, but they didn't bother him directly or cause problems for him. He was glad to be able to walk around without any kind of disguise and hoped one day Rayla would be able to do the same in Katolis.

The villagers were mostly Skywing elves. They were also very communal. Everyone shared work and pooled resources together. Every meal at the village was communal too. Everyone in the village would gather at mealtimes, and there were usually great discussions about various things. He was asked many things about humans and they marvelled at his answers. He was also amazed by their magic. Callum had decided to help out in the cooking as it was about the only thing he had any experience in. Callum watched the Skywing cooks use their magic to cook massive amounts of food in floating clouds conjured from thin air. The 'cloud cooker', as Callum called it, somehow was solid enough to hold food and didn't evaporate despite the great fire that blazed underneath. The cloud rotated freely above the flame which they would guide with very fine control of air. Skywing elves could also traverse the sky as if they were walking on land. It was more graceful however, it reminded him of when he used to ice skate as a child. Skywing elves seemed to have invisible wings on their feet that allowed them to 'skate' through the air. They would take off with a running start like a duck and once in the air could jump against air itself to propel themselves higher.

Although he understood sky magic to an extent he had no idea how he could replicate their magic. He wondered if there was a difference between innate magic like the Skywing elves' flying and cooking, Rayla's Moonshadow magic, Lujanne's illusions and his runed magic. He'd never seen them draw any runes. What exactly were runes anyway?

The Skywing elves lived atop trees. These trees were quite different from the trees he'd seen in that other village. He'd never asked Rayla what kind of elves they had been. The trees here were much thinner and taller, they were also spaced further apert. They had given him a tree in the beginning, and had built him a ladder to help him get up and down, but he couldn't fall asleep atop a tree, even if he tied himself to the branches. With Rayla and the villagers' help he cleared out an area and constructed a house on the ground and slept more peacefully.

Rayla came to visit often. They talked about many things. They made plans to later visit various parts of Xadia once Rayla had setup her preparations. She was probably his only friend in Xadia. When he stopped to think, he realised, she was maybe the only friend he had even if he counted all the people he knew in Katolis. Her presence made his homesickness a little more bearable.

He had handed over the cube to the Queen. They had questioned him about the cube and had read the letter his father had written him. Reading the letter made the Queen stop for a long time. Rayla recounted how the cube came to be in their possession. They didn't seem to know what it was, but it was clear they didn't like the name Aaravos. The cube was stored away in some vault, he assumed. Nothing more was said about it.

A week after he had settled in, Sol Regem came to visit. Callum could now understand Sol Regem clearly. He asked if Callum was interesting in learning about Sun primal magic. Even if he hadn't been bored with nothing to do, he'd have jumped at such an opportunity. He nodded so vigrously, Sol Regem thought for a moment his head would pop out.

"I have been thinking about how to introduce Sun magic to you," he began. "To the untrained human bridge-mage, the Sun is one of the most destructive and dangerous primal sources. I imagine many humans have died in their quest to harness the power of the Sun. It's possible that you might be better off if you could learn about one of the of safer primal sources like the Ocean or the Stars. But I think if you can learn to control one aspect of Sun magic, it may help you in learning to control magic. We will have to be very careful and you are not to practice Sun magic in my absence," he waited for Callum's agreement. When Callum agreed he continued, "Those who practice the magic of the sun must learn to transform energy, that is, take the power of the sun and transform it into useful forms."

"Before we begin I must explain to you a little bit about how magic and nature works. All of the different forms of magic we see today originate from the Sun. All of the other primal sources are really transformations of the Sun Primal magic. Theoretically speaking, given enough time and materials, a Sun mage could perform any magic from any other primal source and all primal mages are really Sun primal mages."

"However, in reality, we do not completely understand the transformations enough to be able to replicate it. Take life for example, everything that lives is a transformation of the Sun. Sun magic allows trees and grass to grow, which allows the creatures to have food to eat. In some ways, the Sun is the source of life. However, none knows how to create life from magic. The main problem is that Sun magic reacts with things to create new magic. Without that thing the transformation can't happen. We have been looking at how the magic reacts to many things for a long time and trying to understand these transformations. The ocean is a container that holds Sun magic. The earth transforms with Sun magic. Without the sun, the sky would be still. The moon reflects the sun. The stars are just other suns unimaginably far away from us. All things begin with the sun, and that is why you should start with the sun."

Callum was lost. He had so many questions he didn't even know where to begin. Sol Regem realised maybe that was too much at once.

"It's ok. I'll explain things to you properly in time. First, we have to find a way to create a Sun bridge," Sol Regem said. "I have a plan."


	11. Observation

Luren was quite thrilled to be trying something so different to his usual research. Finding a way to do magic without an arcanum was a very interesting challenge. Sol Regem had rekindled an old desire of his. He was absolutely certain that the crafty dragon had meant to entice him specifically with his words in court. As a boy he had dreamed of being a Skywing elf. He had wanted to soar through the skies and be free like a dragon. Its not that he hated being a Startouched elf, its just that all Star primal magic seemed to involve waiting. He felt like he had spent half his life waiting. He wanted to learn about the other magics. There was so much potential going unexplored, it seemed criminal to him. He pored through the familiar old records of his predecessors who had tried to touch other primal sources. As he had expected none had tried to connect to magic without an arcanum. The more he read, the more he realised how little they knew about this topic. He realised they had no way to proceed without understanding exactly what it was they were trying to control. He decided to call Callum for a demonstration. 

They went to Caern'say, a giant cavern, illuminated with light that emanated from spindly veins that ran along the walls, ceilings and floor. As Callum walked on the floor, he noticed his foot hovered slightly above the ground and could not actually touch the ground.

"This is a magical experimentation environment," explained Sol Regem, "Mages gather here to do experiments. Any unintended effects are contained within this cavern. Try to touch the floor," he instructed. 

When he tried, his fingers stopped short slightly above the floor, just like his feet. 

"It also rejects physical things, it is very difficult to touch," he explained.

Callum was amazed. He tried jumping. The ground felt bouncy. 

"I wouldn't do that too much, you'll irritate it," advised Sol Regem.

"It's alive?" Callum was surprised. 

"No, but it can react" Sol Regem replied.

Before Callum had the chance to ask more, Luren appeared before them, "Ahh, the young human. Hello, I'm Luren. It is nice to meet you. I'm sorry, I don't actually know your name," said Luren.

"I'm Callum."

"Nice to meet you Callum. Welcome to Caern'say. And well, if it isn't Master Sol Regem, here to grace us with your magnanimous presence. Are you sure you mean to be here, Lord Slumber? You haven't wandered in here in some sleep-induced delirium, have you? Its very hard for me to tell the difference," Luren incited.

"I know he looks competent, but you mustn't let that fool you, Callum. He's just a magic fanatic who hasn't had an original idea in decades," Sol Regem shot back.

Luren and Sol Regem stared hard at each other for a moment, before bursting into laughter. Luren came over and hugged the giant dragon.

"Oh, ho ho ho, you are something else Sol Regem. This is bold. Too bold. Everyone thinks of you as a calm, level-headed dragon, but underneath you are just mad," Luren laughed.

"Its mad until it works," Sol Regem smiled.

"True enough. Come young-mage-to-be, show me your magic," Luren guided Callum to the center of the cavern. "Now, what spells do you know?"

"I only know Aspiro and Fulminis" replied Callum. 

"I see, I see," replied the old elf, nodding gently to himself. "Well, how about you do an Aspiro to begin with?"

Callum nodded and casted Aspiro. A gentle wind blew through the cavern, as it lit up in response. Luren was gazing deeply at the lights in the cavern, as if trying to discern some secret. 

"One more time, if you please," he requested. 

Callum cast aspiro again, while Luren watched the cavern's reaction. 

"Very strange, very strange indeed," he muttered. 

"Did you find out something?" Rayla asked. 

"Only that this cavern sees him no differently than an ordinary Skywing elf," he replied. 

"What does that mean?" Rayla asked. 

"Possibly that he's no different to a Skywing elf," he surmised.

"No, that cannot be the case," said Sol Regem. 

"No, it shouldn't be so identical," Luren agreed, "Perhaps we need to look closer. Callum you will be taught more wind spells and we'll see if there is a difference when you cast those spells," Luren decided.

Callum nodded, excited to be learning more spells. 

"We'll continue this another time then, thank you for coming. You've given me quite the delicious mystery, haha," he laughed. "I'm going to find you a Skywing elf to teach you." 

When Callum returned home, Lilia was waiting at his door. Something seemed different about Lilia, she wasn't her usual relaxed self. When Callum asked her if everything was alright, she didn't respond. She handed him an unsealed letter. The seal was of Katolis. 

When Callum read Ezran's reply, he was filled with dread. His vision swam and he staggered and fell. The letter slipped out of his hand. 

"What have you done?" he asked as the revelations seeped fear into his bones. 

A gust of wind suddenly blew, and the letter flew gently into the elf's hand. 

"Nothing," she replied.


End file.
